Word of Salvation – Vol.13 No.06 – February 1967
God’s Estimate Of Time
Sermon by Rev. G.I. Williamson on 2Pet.3:8
Scripture Reading: 2Pet.3:1-14
Psalter Hymnal: 198:1,3,4; 94; 68:1,2,3,6; 173:1,2; 173:6
Beloved Congregation in our Lord Jesus Christ,
I think it was Augustine who once said that he knew perfectly well what time was until someone asked him to explain it. But as soon as he tried to explain it he discovered that he just couldn’t give an adequate definition. And as far as I know, no one has ever succeeded where Augustine failed. We all know what time is in a way, but we just can’t seem to put it into words. As far as I can discover, even the Bible does not give us a definition of what time is. It has a lot to say about time. But it simply takes for granted that we know what it is from our own experience. And the concern of the Bible is not the philosophic or metaphysical problem of the definition of what time is, but rather the moral and religious problem of how we should use it!
‘The day is going to come,’ says the Apostle, ‘when men are going to take a completely wrong attitude concerning time.’ And because they take this wrong attitude toward time, he says using different words, of course they are going to begin scoffing at the promise of the coming of Jesus Christ, and they are going to begin ignoring the warnings of the great day of God’s wrath. “Where is the promise of His coming?” they will say, “for since the fathers fell asleep, all things continue as they were from the beginning of the creation.” So the thing that Peter wants us to realize is the fact that time is a very different thing to God from what it is to man. For “beloved,” he says, “be not ignorant of this one thing, that one day is with the Lord as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day.”
So let us consider these two things
– first, what time is to God, and
– second, what time ought therefore to be to us!
I. GOD’S ESTIMATE OF TIME REVEALED.
As we consider the divine estimate of time, then, the first thing that we can say is that time itself is utterly insignificant to God. “For a thousand years in Thy sight,” says the Psalmist, “are but as yesterday when it is past, and as a watch in the night.”
To us there is a great difference between a dollar and a cent. But there are men living in this world who have so much money, that they would think no more of the loss of a few dollars, than they would of the loss of a few cents. And the simple fact is that when you measure a day – or a thousand years – by the measure of eternity, both are equally insignificant. This is one of the terrible things about the doctrine of eternal punishment, which is taught in the infallible Word of God. A man is cast into hell to suffer the punishment of his sin. And there he remains for a day! And what does he say? Well he says this: ‘surely I have been here for an eternity.’ But then comes the terrible answer from heaven! ‘No, you have only been there for one day, and you must remain there for- ever!’ That is the horror of eternal damnation. But this is only the beginning. For after a thousand years – a thousand long years – what would this miserable creature say of his torment? Well, he would still have to say, ‘Alas, alas, for my suffering is only beginning, for what is a thousand years in comparison with eternity. And is it not the same when we think of those who are saved. Let a redeemed sinner stand in the presence of God and the Lord Jesus Christ for one day, and what will he say? Well, he will say that that one day has been as a thousand years. And what will he say when he has been there one thousand years? Well, he will say that it has been as one day!
If you were to look at some of the mysteries in a single drop of water you would be amazed at what you would discover. For when that drop of water is magnified several million times, you will find that it is literally swarming with living creatures. And how different they are in size and appearance. If we could imagine that these creatures have intelligence, and that they think about such things, we could suppose that to them these differences might seem very great! The one might imagine himself to be very great and important in comparison with the others. But what are they in comparison with man? Well, they are just nothing at all. They are utterly insignificant. And the differences that exist between them do not matter at all. And that is just the way it is with God’s estimate of time. For to Him there is no difference at all between one day and a thousand years.
Another thing that we can see, from the words of our text, is the fact that all time is the same with God. For if “one day is with the Lord as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day”, then the omnipresence of God must relate to all time, as well as to all of space. You notice that when our Lord Jesus Christ spoke of His own eternal existence, he did not say that He always was – and that He always will be. No, what He said was this: “Before Abraham was I am.”
If you have ever marched in a parade you will know what it is like to pass in review as a part of that stream of men. You pass the various stations along the route of the parade, one at a time. But how different it all looks to one who is standing high on a reviewing stand. For they can see all of these different points all at once. What is past to you is still present to them. And what is still future to you, is already within their view. I think that we can clearly see this in the mystery of divine revelation. In our modern science fiction novels we read of the ‘time machine’ that can take men backwards or forwards across the centuries of history. Well, what man only dreams of doing, God has already done. For it was the Lord who showed Moses the glory of the six days of creation, thousands of years after it had actually happened. And it was the Lord who showed John the glory of the new heavens and the new earth thousands of years before it had actually come to pass. And how was it that the Lord could do this? Well, it was simply because of the fact that – for want of better words to express it – we shall have to say that all time is ever present with God.
But the most important thing that we must consider, in the words of our text, is the fact that all time is equally potential with God. For if “one day is with the Lord as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day” then God can certainly do in one day what He can also do in a thousand years. Or, to put the same truth into different words, God can do the same wonderful work in a short time or in a long time as is pleasing in His sight. Some people today have trouble in believing that God could ever create the world – or at least they have trouble in believing that God ever did create the world – in six ordinary days. No, no, they say, for just look at the world today and you will see that it takes many thousands of years to effect even a very small change in the structure and appearance of the world. See how slowly the river makes a delta, they insist. And see how long it takes the earth to shift its crust. So it must have taken God many millions of years to do the work of creation. But the Scripture certainly teaches us that this is utterly wrong. For “one day is with the Lord as a thousand years.” And isn’t that exactly what we see in the Biblical miracles? Ordinarily the Lord makes wine to make glad the heart of man, as the Scripture says, by a very time consuming process. I have seen some wine that was in storage for a hundred years! But when our Lord Jesus Christ was at the wedding feast at Cana, he did all that is needed to make perfect wine – the best wine – in the twinkling of an eye. With Him, that one moment was the same as a hundred years!
And we not only see this in the works of miraculous power. We also see it in the works of God’s ordinary providence. Take the written Word of God, for example. For fifteen hundred years, the only way that the Bible could be multiplied in the world was by the tedious and time consuming process of hand written copies. And if you had talked to one of those monks in the time when this was going on – if you had told him that the days were going to come when one man could produce in one day more than he could produce in a thousand years, would he have believed it? And yet that is what actually happened. For one of the things that made the great Reformation possible – in the providence of God – was the invention of mechanical printing. And so the Lord was able – even without the use of directly miraculous power – to give His Church in one day what He had before given over a thousand years! And just think what it would mean for the Church of Jesus Christ if God were to send an- other Reformation of His Church by putting into the service of the gospel today the wonderful modern inventions! When Peter preached to a great multitude on the day of Pentecost, there was a very small beginning of the fulfilment of the great commission. But now, after two-thousand years, there are still a great many people who have not really heard of the gospel. But we are now in a position, from a technical point of view, in which one single man could literally speak – and appear – to the whole human race to proclaim the gospel of Christ!
“Who hath heard such a thing?” says the Prophet Isaiah, “who hath seen such things? Shall the earth be made to bring forth in one day? or shall a nation be born at once?” Well, I’m afraid we sometimes become so discouraged by the long delay – what to us seems a long delay – in the promised victory of Christ, that we give in to a spirit of defeat. We have thrown in the net until we are utterly weary and exhausted. And we begin to despair of ever seeing great things. But if one day is with the Lord as a thousand years, then why can’t God at His own appointed time, and in His own appointed way do as much in one single day for the gathering in of His elect, as He has done in a thousand years? When the children of Israel were held in cruel bondage in Egypt for four hundred and thirty years, don’t you suppose that they too were inclined to doubt the almighty power of God? Did they not begin to say that the arm of the Lord is shortened so that it cannot save? And yet we know what God did: and He did it all in one day! “And it came to pass the selfsame day, that the Lord did bring the children of Israel out of the land of Egypt by their armies,” says Moses. No wonder it was to be a day that was much remembered by the people of God!
“While yet our fathers were but few, sojourners in the land,
He sware that Canaan should be theirs, and made His covenant stand.
His sacred word to Abraham He kept, though waiting long,
And brought His chosen people forth, with joy and thankful song.
When we look at the times in which we live, and see the awesome power of the kingdom of darkness – when we see the lamentable condition of most of the visible Church – yes, alas, when we see our own lack of zeal and devotion to the Lord, we feel like the Psalmist who said,
“O Lord God, to whom vengeance belongeth;
O God, shew Thyself. Lift up Thyself,
Thou Judge of the earth: render a reward to the proud.
Lord, how long shall the wicked, how long shall the wicked triumph?
How long shall they utter and speak hard things?
And all the workers of iniquity boast themselves?
They break in pieces Thy people, O Lord,
and afflict Thine heritage.”
But what does the Lord answer in return? Well, we read it in the prophecy of Zechariah. “Thus saith the Lord of hosts; it shall yet come to pass, that there shall come people, and the inhabitants of many cities: and the inhabitants of one city shall go to another, saying, let us go speedily to pray before the Lord, and to seek the Lord of hosts; I will go also. Yea, many people and strong nations shall come to seek the Lord of hosts in Jerusalem, and to pray before the Lord. Thus saith the Lord of hosts; in those days it shall come to pass, that ten men shall take hold out of all languages of the nations even shall take hold of the skirt of him that is a Jew, saying, we will go with you; for we have heard that God is with you.” And why should it not be so, if one day is with the Lord as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day? Yes, as Peter said “the times of refreshing shall come from the presence of the Lord.”
We see, then, that God’s estimate of time is very different from that which is common with men!
II. OUR ESTIMATE OF TIME CONSIDERED.
And this leads us to consider what our estimate of time should be, in the light of the fact that “one day is with the Lord as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day.”
And the first thing I would ask you to consider is how short a time we have! For if a thousand years is nothing more than a day to the God who created us, and who will judge us, then the most that we can expect to have in this world is only the space of a watch in the night. “Man that is born of a woman,” says Job, “is of few days, and full of trouble. He cometh forth like a flower, and is cut down: he fleeth also as a shadow, and continueth not.” And the Psalmist says, “Lord make me to know mine years, and the measure of my days, what it is; that I may know how frail I am. Behold, Thou hast made my days as an handbreadth; and mine age is nothing before Thee; every man at his best state is altogether vanity.”
The trouble with us, is, that we do not stop and think about the most important fact of life namely, the brevity thereof the swiftness with which it passes. So we find ourselves becoming terribly concerned about our present situation in the world, and the things that concern the future that we expect. We say, to quote the Apostle James, “Today or to-morrow we will go into such a city, and continue there a year, and buy and sell, and get gain: whereas ye know not what shall be on the morrow. For what is your life? It is even a vapour, that appeareth for a little time, and then vanisheth away.” If we would only consider this solemn and inescapable fact, how different we would feel about our situation. “Brethren,” says the Apostle Paul, “the time is short: it remaineth, that both they that have wives be as though they had none; and they that weep, as though they wept not; and they that rejoice, as though they rejoiced not; and they that buy, as though they possessed not; and they that use this world, as not abusing it: for the fashion of this world passeth away.”
Suppose you were to imagine two men travelling by slightly different routes to the same destination. Because of the swiftness of the modern means of travel, they both will have to stay in some temporary lodging for one night. Now imagine what it would be like if one of these two men is given the happy privilege of staying in a fine motel, while the other man experiences the misfortune of sleeping all night on a bench in the park. Well, we would say, that is too bad, but really is it all that important? After all, what is one night? When you look at that one small difference in the light of what is to follow it just doesn’t make any difference. Well, says the Apostle, so it is with the whole of our brief sojourn in this world. “Now it is high time to awake out of sleep” he says, “for now is our salvation nearer than when we believed. The night is far spent, the day is at hand: let us therefore cast off the works of darkness, and let us put on the armour of light.” And this leads me to say that since the time is so short the day that we now have in our possession is filled with eternal significance. Have you ever noticed how often the Bible stresses the importance of today? When it comes to the consideration of yesterday, the Bible doesn’t have much to say. For there is nothing that we can do but to forget the things that are behind us, since that is beyond recall. And when it comes to the consideration of tomorrow, the Bible says, “Take…. no thought for the morrow: for the morrow shall take thought for the things of itself. Sufficient unto the day is the evil thereof.” But how different it is when the Bible speaks of today! Yes, says the Bible, for this – now – today “is the accepted time.” And there is no other. So what does the Bible say about today? Well it says this: “Take heed, brethren, lest there be in any of you an evil heart of unbelief, in departing from the living God. But exhort one another daily, while it is called ‘today,’ lest any of you be hardened through the deceitfulness of sin.”
Here is a man who has often heard the Gospel, but he has never really made a covenant with the Lord. He has never said in the inner sanctuary of his heart – “Lord, be merciful to me a sinner, and give me grace to put my faith in Thee, and love Thee with a true heart fervently, all the days of my life.” O, of course, he intends to do this, but not quite yet. I remember that Augustine used to pray this prayer: “Lord, make me a Christian, but not yet!” And why does he speak this way in his heart? Well, it is among other things because he has forgotten the eternal urgency of time! ‘Ah, well,’ he says, ‘what is another day? What is one day out of a whole life?’ He forgets that every time he spurns a day of God’s mercy, and longsuffering, he is guilty as if he had spurned it for a thousand years! Remember how Felix trembled when he heard the Gospel. But “go thy way” he said to the Apostle, “when I have a convenient season, I will call for thee.” But when did that convenient season ever come? Listen! One day under the gospel privileges of the Lord Jesus Christ, is of far more importance than a thousand years under the light of nature alone! If you hear the Gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ today, and do not accept it with all your heart, then you have done something worse than ten heathen men can do in a whole life-time apart from the wonderful Word of Christ! Remember how it was with Esau in the Old Testament? Remember that one day when he decided to sell his birth-right for a mess of pottage? Did he not imagine too that there would be ample opportunity later to lay hold of the covenant of grace? But “ye know,” says the Scripture, “that afterward, when he would have inherited the blessing, he was rejected: for he found no place of repentance, though he sought it carefully with tears.”
But the last thing I would ask you to observe, on the basis of our text, is the wonderful comfort that belongs to those who belong to Christ. For “he that believeth,” says the Prophet Isaiah, “shall not make haste.” And isn’t the meaning clear? So long as a man does not believe in the Saviour, what does he really possess?. Well, the only thing that he really has is a very short time. That is why he has to make haste in everything he does! But how different it all is with one who belongs to Jesus. For there is a sense in which, for him, time no longer matters at all. If he only has one more day to live, well then – says the Scripture – that is for his advantage. For to depart and to be with Christ is far better. Or if he yet has many years in which to serve the King in this world, well then says the Bible that is good too, for nothing can ever separate him from his Lord! ‘Lord,’ says this man who belongs to Jesus, ‘my times are in Thy hands. And I am content that it is so. For if Thou hast a work for me to do, then Thou wilt preserve me until that work is finished. So enable me to serve Thee this day – as if I had a thousand years – and yet, also, as if this were the last day too!” “Who then is the faithful and wise servant,” asks Jesus “whom his Lord hath made ruler over His household, to give them meat in due season? Blessed is that servant, whom his Lord when He cometh shall find so doing. Verily I say unto you, that He shall make him ruler over all His goods.”
How unimportant our daily routine can seem! How very far removed from the tremendous things of which we read in the Gospel of Jesus Christ. But that is where we go wrong. We go wrong because we despise the day of small things. We go wrong because we forget that it is what we do today – in the sphere that God has placed us – that really does determine the eternal issue of things. For he that is faithful in little, will receive the great reward which fadeth not away, when Jesus comes again! “Therefore, my beloved brethren, be ye stedfast, unmoveable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, forasmuch as ye know that your labour is not in vain in the Lord.”
Amen.